Surviving With Love
by Breazy777
Summary: Daryl's never been a people person, no one can change that. He is a tough survivor doing everything he can to save himself and the everybody he cares about. But the question is, can Daryl survive with love..?
1. Chapter 1

**[Disclaimer: ****For the purpose of this story I have changed Daryl's age from mid-thirties - early forties to mid-twenties - early thirties. I do not own nor take any credit for the characters I have not created. I do, however, take full credit for my own character and any adjustments I have made to the original storyline. I am also writing the events based on the story line according to my memory so please excuse any mistakes I may have made.]**

Weaving my way through the trees and dodging logs I made my way through the forest. Every few minutes I would check that my hunting knife was tucked safely in the belt loop of my jeans even though I knew that the dead never ventured this far out. I was getting sick of nature. I had no one to talk to and hadn't seen a normal person for at least a few weeks. Deciding to take a break I set my hiking bag down in a patch of sun light and sat on a nearby log. Pulling out my solar charger I stuck it next to the bag and watched as it charged itself up. I waited in the heat for a while longer before hearing a rustle in a nearby bush.

Arming myself with my knife I slowly stood and walked over to the bush. Suddenly a walker stumbled out and threw itself at me so I sunk my blade into its head, killing it for the last time. Suddenly another one came out from the side and I put my hand around the back of it, sliding the bloody blade into the back if its head, killing it and kicking it away from me. Then another came over, and another, and another. I killed them fairly quickly but one managed to make its way right in front of me so I punched its head in with the hilt of my knife. Just as I took a breath of satisfaction and looked at all the rotting bodies around me I felt a hand grab my shoulder.

Gasping I turned to face whatever it was that had its hand on me. A walker with its mouth ripped open and an arrow in its neck was staring at me. My first thought was to stab it in the head but I had dropped my knife in fright. My next thought was to rip the arrow from its neck and use it to pierce his head but his mouth was so close to me, his teeth inches from my flesh. Just as I raised my hand to punch its head in something came whizzing through the air and straight through the walkers eyes almost grazing my head. Pushing it backwards I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Looking down I saw an arrow through its head that matched the one in its neck. Pulling them out I searched for whoever had fired them. A man, maybe in his mid-twenties, maybe older, wandered out. He was in this shirt that looked like it was made from some sort of sack and he had a cross bow slung over his shoulder.

"Guess these must be yours then." I held out the arrows which he took and placed them with the rest of the arrows. He then went to all of the walkers I just killed and kicked their heads in just to be sure they were dead.

"Well, aren't you a charmer?" I asked sarcastically. He just rolled his eyes and picked up my bag and charger.

"You got a group?" I shook my head taking my things from him and putting the bag back on. I then picked up my knife and wiped it on the closest walkers' clothes before putting it back in my jeans.

"Actually you're the first person I've seen in weeks." He looked at all the bodies around us. "Well, the first _alive_ person." He pulled out and arrow and arranged it in his bow before walking back to where he had come. Not thinking twice about it I turned to head the other way, thinking he didn't want anything to do with me.

"You coming or not?" Grinning I went back over to him.

"You're offering?" He gave me a look but I wasn't quite sure what it meant yet. He quickly nodded and started walking again so I followed. Over the next hour he said about three words to me and I was sick of it.

"Why won't you talk to me? I would really like to talk because you're the first person I've seen in ages. Please." He just kept going forwards, not even making a move to stop.

"Look, ya wanna talk? Wait till we make it to camp." The whole rest of the day all we did was wonder in silence and murder a few squirrels. It started getting dark and we were still going. Soon the moon was the only light shining on our path and I was getting scared. After those walkers today more might come out tonight.

"Are we going to stop? To, you know, sleep?" He looked around and stared me right in the eye like I was some lunatic telling him to jump of a cliff.

"Wow…you really aren't a people person. And you know what? I don't care anymore. I give up. I've been alone and frightened and hungry for weeks on end so I think I can handle a couple more." He didn't say a thing. I had been following him, helping him hunt and even attempting to talk to him. And attempting to talk to someone is a big step for me because since the start of the apocalypse I have shut everyone out. Every single person I have ever cared about I had to shoot in the head. I didn't want to have to be hurt again and so decided to stop caring.

"Sweetheart, just stop being stubborn cause ya'll meet the others tomorrow. They like all that personal crap."

"It's just that when I got out of Atlanta I had no one. No living soul near me, or so I thought. So I'm sorry if I can't communicate very well. Haven't done it in a while." And that's when I first realised that people probably got Daryl's feelings mixed up with his personality. People did that to me a lot and, quite frankly, it annoyed the hell out of me which only made me do it more. I kept quiet the rest of the time. I'm not even joking, I hardly said a word. Walking all night, all the next day, not a peep from me.

Daryl and I had been tracking this deer for miles, sort of herding it closer to where he said the camp was so we could easily carry it back. It dashed out of sight for mere seconds when Daryl shot the first arrow into its neck and that's when we heard the scream. An ear piercing scream followed by frantic calls to "Mum and dad" were heard through the trees. I went to run, to see what was going on but Daryl grabbed my arm drawing me back to him.

"Might be a walker. Stay behind me." I scoffed. Had he not seen me tear my way through that herd of them or had he just not listened to anything I'd been saying. None-the-less I stayed half a step behind him with my hand on my knife so I could kill at a moment's notice. Suddenly he grunted in annoyance, I figured he did a lot of that over the past twenty four hours, and lowered his bow walking quite quickly to where the scream had come from.

"Daryl," I half yelled out. "What are you –" As I followed him I saw why he wasn't alarmed. There were three men standing around a walker's body with its head cut off which was lying right next to the deer with a very familiar arrow sticking out of it.

"Damn deer." I mumbled under my breath. As if he heard my voice, Daryl waved his weapon in my direction.

"That's Tammy. Saved 'er out there. She almost got bit." I gave everyone a quick smirk before turning my attention right back to the bloody animal at our feet. I kicked its dead carcass with my toe and leaned down to look at the massive bite mark that the walker had left in it.

"Damn walker that was my deer! I tracked it for miles."

"And just how did you expect to get it back to camp?" A new voice piped up. I looked over to see a friendly looked woman thought it looked like the events of the last month had left her with a very stern mouth.

"Tammy would've helped me drag it back. Stronger than she looks." I blushed a little and took one last look at the deer.

"No good, is it?" I bit my lip thinking about how long we had spent looking for it and tracking it when we could have been hunting something else.

"Can't we just cut around it?" Daryl had pulled out his knife and showed us where he intended to cut the infected portion off.

"Not worth the risk, you know that." Daryl started to kick the crap out of the walkers detached body as I looked up to see who had ordered him to leave the deer alone. He was an older man, maybe about the same age as Daryl, maybe a little older. He had a strong jaw line lined with stubble, dark hair laced with sweat and you could tell he had a cut body hidden by his clothes. He must have caught me staring at him. Just as his eyes shifted to mine a blonde girl about my age with someone that must have been her sister called me over.

"Come over here, Tammy. We'll introduce you to everybody." Just as I was passing the decapitated walker head on the ground it opened its eyes and started to try and bite my foot. The two sisters ran away and back to what must be the camp and I heard Daryl groan, yet again.

"Come on people, what the hell?" He strode closer to the head which was right at my feet with his loaded cross bow pointed right between its eyes. Taking the opportunity to prove I wasn't weak to the people I had just met I dropped to the floor, my knife in my hand and pushed it right through the undead creatures brain. It was silenced instantly. Daryl didn't seem surprised, he knew what I could do, but the others looked taken aback.

"So, mind if I join your group?"

Disclaimer

**For the purpose of this story I have changed Daryl's age from mid-twenties to early thirties. I do not own nor take any credit for the characters I have not created. I do, however, take full credit for my own character and any adjustments I have made to the original storyline.**


	2. Chapter 2

In no time I had met everyone and was sitting around a collection of embers. Daryl had left because Rick, who had just joined the group the night before, had left his brother hand cuffed to a roof. Two other guys, Glenn and T-dog had gone with them. I turned to Andrea and frowned.

"So let me get this straight; Rick who just found you yesterday is the husband of Lori, father of Carl and best friend of Shane?" That's right, I even knew the name of the chiselled jaw, dark haired guy, the cute one.

"Yep, I would say you got it." I sighed and flexed my shoulders trying to relax and loosen up.

"Lucky guy to have found everyone he was looking for." Andrea put a hand on my shoulder as if to comfort me but I shrugged her off. Of course that seemed to get everyone's attention because they all turned to face me like I was the centre of gravity or something.

"You never did tell us how you got here, Tammy. It's sort of a ritual here, telling each other about our pre apocalypse lives." I got nervous, not wanting to bring up bad memories. I fake yawned and stretched my arms above my head.

"I'm sort of tired. Daryl wouldn't let me rest so I haven't slept in, like, two days. Do you guys mind?" Shane stood and signalled me to follow him.

"Not at all, come on." I stood before murmuring a "night" to the people gathered round the fire and followed him.

"Thanks for letting me stay, Shane." He flashed an award winning smile in my direction.

"You got skills we can use and we have supplies you need. Figured it's a win-win situation. Now, since T-dog is not here tonight you're staying in his tent. I put your bag in here earlier." I didn't notice but we were standing in front of a nice sized tent. Ducking inside I saw a sleeping bag sprawled out on the floor but, hey, at least I would have proper shelter. I stood upright, placing my hand on Shane's arm.

"Thanks again." I left it at that, not knowing enough about him to do anything more. I guess I will get to know every person here pretty well. Flashing him a half smile I went back into the tent and curled up, very ready for a good night's sleep.

Next morning I woke to find some jeans, a tank top and a pair of hiking shoes lying next to my head. I had fallen asleep in the clothes I had been wearing for the last two weeks so I was glad someone had left these for me. I changed and carried my old clothes out to see that all the girls were gone.

"Where's everyone gone?" I yelled up to Dale. He pointed his rifle over to the quarry. The sun was already up and blazing so I must have slept well into the day. I guess that's the price I pay for not sleeping properly for weeks on end .I waved a thinks Dale and pulled on my new boots. As I started on my way down to the water's edge I spotted all the women washing the clothes by hand, and chatting. As I moved closer I heard, "I miss my vibrator." And an eruption of giggles came from the group. And then Carol, the quietest out of them all commented, "Me too…" Even I couldn't help but laugh as I got closer.

"Hey, Tammy. We decided not to wake you, figured you could use the rest." Amy looked over and gave me one of the warmest looks anyone had given me in months. I hadn't even sat down yet when Ed came over to get Carol. I wasn't listening to the words being passed, just hearing the ladies protective tones and seeing Carol's worried face. Out of the blue Ed backhanded his wife across the face. Jumping into action I dragged my elbow into his gut and then then took his surprise as a chance to crack my fist in his chin. Shane then came over and threw him away from me and started pounding his face in.

"You put your hands on your wife, your little girl, or anyone else in this camp one more time, I will not stop next time. I'll beat you to death, Ed." I saw this wild look in his eyes as he flicked a quick glance at me before storming back to camp. Carol ran over to Ed, crying, stroking his face and repeating to him that she was sorry. Full of rage at how a man could lay hands on his child's mother, his own lover like he had been, it made me feel sick to the stomach. I shook my head and ran back to the camp site before anyone could stop me.

Full of blinding rage that sometimes overpowers me, I dropped to my knees in the dirt and pressed my head to my thighs. A hand on my shoulder makes me jump and I pull out my knife to see that it was only Dale seeing if I was feeling okay.

"Whoa there. I'm only tryin' to help you." He searches my eyes for several seconds as I lowered my weapon but I made sure he couldn't find much emotion.

"I know you just got 'ere but you need to calm down. There' kids here too you know. Now I'm not sure what kinda things you've seen out there," He paused to put his hand back on my shoulder, "Or had to do out there but your safe here. Ain't no need to be scared anymore." A tear escaped from my eye and travelled down my cheek.

"Before you ask, no. I don't want to talk about it." I hopped up from my place on the ground and wiped my tear away. "What can I do to help?" Shane came over to us with the others, excluding Ed, so we could go and talk to this guy digging holes like a mad man. I had forgotten his name but when we got there Shane called him Jim. They try and get him to stop digging but he doesn't listen. Lori attempts to reason with him telling him that he's scaring Carl and Sophia, just like I probably was before. I started to feel really bad for those kids. They were so young and innocent meant to be carefree not dwelling in the pity of the doomed. Shane then started to get angry with Jim and his temper starts to boil, you could tell by his voice. He was yelling at Jim to take a break, barking the order at him like a drill sergeant.

"If I don't…then what? Then you're gonna beat my face in like Ed Peletier, arent'cha?" I can see that he's getting ready to swing his hand with the shovel in it and I move forward just as he does, catching the top of the wooden handle mid-air seconds before Shane tackles him to the ground. Jim then starts crying about his own family.

"The only reason I got away is cause the dead were too busy eating my family." He wailed. The faces of everyone dropped and we hauled the hysterical man back to the camp and tied him to a tree. Shane told us it was for his own safety and most of us agreed. Once he had a few sips of water I sat with him and leaned against the trunk in the cool shade that hid us from the sun.

"You know, Jim, I sorta know how you feel." I didn't dare look at him or I would have broken down. I think he knew because he just sat and listened to me. "I had never gotten along with my family. Dead beat dad, try hard mum and even a sold out big brother. I've been by myself my whole life. When the infection hit my family didn't care, they just went about normally but I prepared myself so I could get out of there before I saw the people I cared about be ripped apart. Unfortunately I was the one who had to shoot them all in the head. The hardest part was that when the walkers' got through not one of them even yelled out my name, didn't even try and look for me to see if I was going to make it out. But I couldn't leave them, not like the monsters they would have turned into." Jim finally looked over at me, his eyes full of sadness.

"Ya know, if my hands weren't tied I could give you a hug right about now." I clasped my hand on one of his shoulders.

"Lucky you are tied to a tree then." I wondered over to where Shane was teaching the kids to scale the fish. I picked up a knife but Shane took it from my fingers.

"I heard what you told Jim. I'm sorry but I overheard it." I guess Andrea was right, everybody really did share their stories in this little group after all. I didn't want to think about what I had to leave behind any longer so I tried to change the topic.

"I'm trying to help, Shane. What else am I meant to do?" Sighing he gave me the knife back and I started showing Sophia how to fillet a fish. Both her and Carl lost interest though and left us two adults to do the work.

"You have a good reason for pushing people away, Tammy?" I stabbed the point of the blade into the tree right next to us and my hand curled into a fist.

"What makes you think I would tell you, huh? Think I'll spill my soul's secrets to a pretty face? Well think again." I was angry at him. Angry at him for pushing me to open up. Angry at him for thinking I couldn't handle Ed. Angry at him for no reason other than having someone to take it out on. Taking a couple of deep breaths I ran my hand through my hair.

"Look, Shane. I've never trusted anyone other than myself. I'm gonna need some time to get used to trusting people, so don't listen to me if I say something stupid." Picking up half of the cleaned fish I started towards the camp fire which had more rocks around it so we could have higher flames than the night before.

"Nice fire guys." I smiled and passed the meat to Andrea who started to cook it. Shane brought the other pile and we all sat around the warm ring.

"Fish fry!" Carl shouted, making everyone laugh. "Hey Tammy," The boy said coming to sit near me, "Can I call You Tamm? Mum said I had to ask you first." I smirked and ruffled his hair.

"Cause you can lill' man. But only if I can teach you how to shoot a gun." He looked hopefully over to Lori who shrugged.

"May as well, he's going to learn someday." Carl jumped up and down.

"Yes, yes, yes! Thanks Tamm!" He told me before he bounced back to his mum. A few minutes later Amy moves to get up and leave the now chattering circle. I didn't quite catch who but someone asks her where she was headed off to and she laughed at them saying she needed to use the bathroom. Sheesh, everyone questioned what you did here but I guessed that's what made it such a nice way to live. They were only asking those things because they were worried about you. Thinking about that for a couple of seconds and I had made up my mind to tell Shane what he wanted to know. I stood up and quickly sat down next to him so no one would ask why I was getting up when I heard a scream. The last time someone had screamed like that was when Daryl and I were in the woods and our damn deer had been hacked into. Everyone jumped out of their skin and flipped their heads to where the distressed noise had come from. Amy, who had just come out of the RV, had a walker biting her arm and another going for her neck. All around us the walking dead come out from the surrounding woods and attack like a pack of dogs. Most run over behind Shane because he has the gun but I stay right where I am and pull out my knife for the second time that day and stand on a defence position. Carl was crying as Lori and Carol held their children close to them as far away from the flesh eating things as possible. Shane shot as many of them in the head as possible and Dale scrambled to get his rifle. That's when a few came charging at me. I killed about three in the space of about fifteen seconds and two more after that. Making a split second decision I inched my way towards the others, killing another walkers as I went. I was about two feet from everyone else when Rick, T-dog, Glenn and Daryl came bursting through the trees and started to shoot the rest of the walkers with the guns Rick had left in a bag in Atlanta. I see Andrea hugging her dead sister but a walker was rushing towards her. I started running but just as I did it got a hole blown right through its head. The gunshot startled me and I stumbled causing me to trip and fall. Not thinking I dropped my knife under me and I landed on it, a new sharp pain in my thigh. Turns out that the walker that was advancing on Andrea wasn't alone cause soon I saw the rotting and bloody face of one above me. I fumbled for my blade, closing my fingers around it and putting it to my throat. 'The moment that thing bites me I'm going to put an end to my suffering before anyone else has to' I thought to myself. Half a second before it descended on me T-dog came and kicked it out of the way and shot it between the eyes. I still had the pointy blade against my neck and I was so stressed that it had started to slice into me. Drops of crimson blood were dripping down the sides of my neck and onto the ground now but T-dog snatched it out of my white knuckles.

"Holy shit." He muttered under his breath as all around us the screams of terror were dampened into sobs of sadness. Touching my neck I found that the cut wasn't deep, more like a scratch, but the stab in my leg was at least an inch deep. I sat up and inspected the wound, cringing at how much blood and flesh was visible. Out of the blue I felt the cool tip of an arrow press to my forehead. Still in shock I just looked up to see Daryl's face glaring at me.

"Did you get bit?" My mind could hear the words but when I tried to speak my lips wouldn't move to form words. "I said did you get bit?" I raised a hand to try and stop him sending an arrow flying through my head but he just pressed it harder to me.

"Dude, she tripped on her knife. I stopped her being bit. Just chill." The point of the arrow didn't budge. "I said lay off." T-dog shoved Daryl but he was still staring at me with cold eyes. Finally I willed myself to speak.

"I didn't get bit." I let my hand move near my leg. "It was my knife, I tripped and it stabbed me." Daryl grunted and moved to the walker lying next to me. He stomped on its head, crushing any working brain left inside it for the second and last time. I turned to T-dog.

"Thanks." That's all I remember before blacking out.

**Hi guys. I'm still introducing my character as you can tell. Hope it's not too strange a story but I promise you that it will get better. I haven't seen season two of TWD yet so I can only write as far as season one but I assure you, it will be good. From Breazy xxxx**


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